RAJESH NUPUR TALWAR

I recently saw the movie Talvar, which is based on the headlines-grabbing double murder of a young girl, Aarushi, and the family's domestic helper, Hemraj, in 2008. Although the film evokes sympathy for Aarushi's parents, who are currently serving a life sentence for the murder of their daughter and Hemraj, it is left up to the audience to decide which version of events they believe. Regardless of whether the Talwars are guilty or not, I think we as a society owe them an apology.

When I told my mother, that fateful morning, that her son was dead, she fell in a heap, as though she imploded. She hit her head as she fell, but I just walked by her and went to drink some water, leaving her lying there for the relatives to pick up. Was I unnatural? Maybe. When I see Nupur Talwar's face and the steely determination in it, I know where that comes from. From a need to act normal when nothing around is.

Do we pay our policemen to bungle and malign? Do we pay for the CBI so that it can twist, manipulate and break laws to 'crack' cases? Are we paying our forensic scientists some kind of rent for their imagination? Do we pay our public prosecutor--remember that this is a crime against the state, so he represents each one of 'us' against the Talwars--to use the language of the gutter in the courtroom?

Criminal trials increasingly operate in a world of saturation media coverage. It is time to acknowledge this fact in our treatment of them. The incarceration of the accused while adjudication of the case is still pending leaves them with limited resources to state their case in the court of public opinion, while the prosecution has no such limitations. Often access to the media, even if limited, enables the accused to provide their side of the story.

he Bombay High Court today rejected a petition filed by dentist couple Nupur and Rajesh Talwar who had sought stopping of the release and telecast of a film allegedly based on the murder of their daug...

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